| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 105.2

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 105.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Caribbean and Latin America

Matthew Restall. Maya Conquistador. Boston, Mass.: Beacon. 1998. Pp. xvi, 254. $25.00.

This book belongs to the historiography arguing for greater use of native-language, rather than Spanish, sources in the study of the indigenous peoples of America. Matthew Restall makes a significant contribution to the scholarship about the Maya. His book consists of early colonial primary sources translated from Yucatec Maya to English (with the exception of one document written in Spanish by a Maya). Restall did the translations himself and also wrote two introductory chapters and excellent commentaries on each section of documents. The purpose of the book is to provide English readers with materials to gain knowledge and understanding of the Maya of colonial Yucatan. 1

The sources are organized thematically into eight chapters. Different genres of documents are represented, including primordial titles, community and lineage chronicles, the community histories/prophecies known as the Chilam Balam, a report from the famous relaciones geográficas, letters written by village governments to the king of Spain, and petitions by village governments or nobles complaining about local abuses. 2

This is philological scholarship at its best. Restall guides the reader through each reading by indicating in the notes where several interpretations are possible and where his interpretation of the text either differs from those of previous scholars or is based on good guesswork. The notes also provide brief histories of each manuscript, which in themselves make for interesting reading. One can only come away with the feeling that Restall is a master of his craft. . . .

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